IchiHime's Escape from Vegas
by Coldman9
Summary: Keigo proposes to all his friends that they take a vacation to Las Vegas before they separate to go to college. What could possibly go wrong? You'll find out. This is going to be a multichapter so keep an eye out for updates. Rated M just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

Okay people, I'm sorry I was gone for so long, but real life is more hassling than online life. Anyway, this is definitely gonna be a multi-chapter fanfic, so please don't say you look forward to more chapters, they're coming.

I don't own Bleach, Kubo Tite does.

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**IchiHime's Escape from Vegas: Chapter 1**

_Ba-bump_

Pain.

_Ba-bump_

More pain.

_Ba-bump_

An excruciating amount of pain.

Ichigo stirred in his unconscious state and began the horrid process of coming into consciousness. The pain only sped it up and made him wish he were back asleep; the throbbing, as if his head was being pounded on with a hammer, stayed in his head, but the rest of his body was starting to feel similar effects. His muscles were slow and sometimes unresponsive, his eyes were cloudy and hard to open, any source of light was unbearable to look at, and there was an awful taste in his mouth. He stayed in this state for a few minutes, his foggy mind trying to gather as much information as it could as it booted up for the day.

As he decided it would be best to get up he realized he was lying face down on a bed, his face buried in a pillow, a very soft pillow. His other senses seemed to turn on and he realized that the sheets and covers over him were quite soft, probably silk or linen. His right hand was hanging off the edge of said bed, while his left was stretched out directly to his left, meaning either the bed was a good size or he was about to fall off if he made a bad move.

As his senses finally reached his hands he realized he had a grip on something warm. As he moved his hand he came to the realization it was warm and soft. After wrapping his fingers around it and moving it a bit he also discovered it was somewhat squishy. Soft, warm, and squishy: something about that combo said he should be doing something, but his mind was too hazy to put the pieces together. Finally the last piece lit his mind as he heard a low moan from his left.

Ichigo's eyes snapped open, disregarding any pain from the light, and he looked to his left, praying to any god that what he was thinking wasn't true. There, on his left, was a bundle of long, auburn hair, and although her eyes were closed, Ichigo knew grey eyes were hidden behind eyelids and long lashes. Orihime was still sleeping peacefully, a small smile on her face, regardless of the fact that Ichigo's left hand was on one of her large 'assets'. And as if this situation wasn't bad enough, the epiphany that Ichigo was, himself, naked under the covers came into light.

. . . . . . . . . . .

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"

Said scream reverberated through the teenager's cores, snapping the auburn beauty awake, to the sudden realization that Ichigo had, and caused the orange headed strawberry to fall off the edge of the bed and into the floor.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime cried out, worried for Ichigo and immediately forgetting her realization. She crawled over to the edge of the bed to look down on him, not understanding why he was turning a deep shade of red while he looked at her.

'_Turn away, turn away, turn away, turn away, turn away, turn away, turn away, turn away!'_ Ichigo kept saying to himself, yet what his brain told him to do and what his body did were two totally different things. '_Damn it Ichgo, turn away!'_

'_Why is Kurosaki-kun turning bright red?'_ Orihime asked herself as she looked at Ichigo with a confused expression mixed with worry. '_Why is it so chilly in here?'_ Here eyes drifted down from his face. '_Why doesn't he have a shirt on?'_ And further down. '_Why doesn't he . . . have . . . any . . .'_

Both teens turned completely red as their noses started to bleed. After another second of awkward silence Ichigo managed to get his body to obey him and ran off to the bathroom, a very luxurious bathroom. As Ichigo and Orihime tried to recompose themselves from the sudden shock they both began to notice just how roomy and expensive looking the room was. The bed was very large and, like Ichigo had thought, was adorned with silk sheets. There was a small kitchen area, although it was more like a mini-bar, with a majority of the alcohol missing. There was a Jacuzzi in the corner, in the middle was a set of couches and chairs, and strangely, off to the side, was a piano. And finally, it seemed an entire wall was taken up by a window revealing a fantastic view of the city below them, Las Vegas.

As Orihime snapped out of her daze from the sheer shock of her surrounding she too got a headache and the same symptoms Ichigo was now feeling again. As she grabbed her head she saw that both her and Ichigo's clothes were scattered about the room, like that had been removed and tossed aside on the way to the bed. Orihime turned an even brighter shade of red as she did the math in her head: naked, bed, teenagers, and alcohol. She pulled the silk sheet around herself and stepped out of the bed, quickly gathering up her clothes. After dressing she picked up Ichigo clothes as well, assuming there wasn't anything for him in the bathroom.

"Kurosaki-kun." She said while knocking on the door, the sound making her headache worse.

"Yeah Inoue." Ichigo's voice echoed out of the bathroom.

"Y-You don't have to open the door, but I have your clothes here."

The door opened slowly, but only just enough for Ichigo to stick out his hand. Orihime quickly deposited the clothes to him and watched as the hand disappeared into the bathroom. Coming back to her headache, Orihime headed over to the kitchen area and luckily found ice in a freezer. She wrapped the ice up in a towel and put the compress against her head. After a few minutes the cold of the ice began working on her headache, making it lessen in pain. Realizing that Ichigo must have the same horrible headache, Orihime made another bundle for him and started on some coffee.

-0-

Ichigo stared at himself in the mirror, his normal scowl even worse from the pain of his headache. He was thankful to Orihime for gathering up his clothes, but he wondered where they were out there. And to make things worse, as much as he wanted to piece together what had happened the last night, his brain kept his thoughts on what had just happened. A small trickle of blood fell from his nose as he came back to the moment just before he had run into the bathroom.

Ichigo wasn't oblivious, he noticed girls, he just didn't show it. He knew Orihime had a body that most men would die just to be able to openly look at, and he had just been blessed with the sight a lot of men would die several times over just to see for a second. But then came in the complication that she was a friend, a dear friend that he treasured. And that's when the guilt set in. How could he just stare at her like that?

And as much as Ichigo would have liked to stay in that bathroom, he started to smell coffee. Despite what he wanted his base instincts for caffeine spurred him to leave the safety of the bathroom and wander to the kitchen area where Orihime was holding a bundle to her head and sipping on a cup of fresh coffee.

The second she noticed him she turned a bright shade of red again and looked at anywhere except for at him. Ichigo turned a lighter shade of red, although his scowl didn't disappear. He finally noticed a cup of coffee and another bundle on the counter. He walked over and picked up the towel, realizing it was full of ice, and put it on his head too.

"Thanks." He said as he began sipping his coffee.

As they stood quietly the memories from before that morning came back to them both. It was just a month ago that they had graduated from high school and they were now in that short period between the end of high school and the start of their college lives. It was rare but all their friends had gotten together to hand out and Keigo had proposed they all take a trip to Las Vegas. Everybody had gotten jobs and saved up a little bit, but what had been strange was Mizuiro had not only backed up Keigo's idea, he had even managed to get the money together for all of them to go stay for quite a while.

-0-

"_Even if Mizuiro's gonna pay for it all, why should we go to Las Vegas?" Ichigo asked in an annoyed voice, he should have known Keigo would come up with something like this._

_He, Orihime, Uryu, Chad, Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro, Rukia, Renji, Rangiku, Toshiro, and somehow Chizuru, were all sitting around one large table in a coffee shop. Despite Chizuru's constant attempts to molest Orihime things were relatively normal. _

"_Well they have great restaurants, great resorts, amusement parks, and plenty of fun things to do." Keigo said with a grin._

"_I hesitate to wonder what those 'fun things to do' are."_

"_Oh come on Ichigo, lighten up." Mizuiro said, still playing around with his phone, "Once we get there we can separate, we won't have to be around Mr. Asano."_

"_Why are you backing him up Mizurio?" Tatsuki asked as she elbowed Chizuru in the face, keeping her away from Orihime. _

"_I just think it would be really fun." Mizuiro said innocently._

"_I'm being very serious guys." Keigo interrupted looking at everyone, his usual goofy attitude dropped, "We're graduates now, and soon we'll be heading off for separate colleges. I just wanna spend some time having fun in a cool place with all of you so I'll be able to look back at these days fondly in case I never see any of you again."_

_Ichigo just looked at Keigo, the guy actually seemed serious for the first time since they had met. Apparently the idea of not seeing any of them again was really bringing the normally cheerful guy down._

"_I support the idea." Chizuru said, "And to save on money I suggest Hime and I share a one bed room."_

WHAM

_Tatsuki elbow connected with Chizuru's face again._

"_You're not sharing a room with Hime period." She said angrily, and then turned to look at everyone else._

"_Well a trip overseas does sound interesting." Uryu pushed up his glasses._

_Chad only nodded in agreement._

"_I'm sure we'll all have a great time." Orihime said, putting on her usual smile._

_One by one, everybody began voicing their agreement. Rukia, Renji, Toshiro, and Rangiku agreed out of curiosity. And Ichigo had to admit, the way Keigo put it, he wanted to go on the trip himself. This would be a great vacation before he started stressful college life._

-0-

And so, two days ago they had all gathered together. Their luggage had been packed and they had all brought what money they could. Rukia had an amazing amount, no doubt borrowed from Byakuya, although Ichigo was stumped as to how she managed to convince him to give her that much for a vacation. Toshiro had protested but Rangiku pulled him along, making a deal that if he accompanied them all she'd do her paperwork for a while when they got back. Renji had tagged along for the fun of it, having a good amount of money himself.

Ichigo didn't know how but Mizuiro had gotten everyone good seats on the plane. And so 17 hours ago their plane had landed at the Las Vegas airport. After checking into their hotel rooms, the large scene Chizuru made for not being paired with Orihime didn't help anything, they had all decided to head out to a club for some fun. Once again confusing Ichigo, Mizuiro had managed to get them all some alcoholic drinks, and upon the prompting of everyone who decided it was a good idea, everyone started to drink the night away.

As Ichigo finished his cup of coffee, his headache now almost non-existent, he had only one thought.

'_I'm going to kill Keigo.'_

"K-K-Kurosaki-kun." Orihime said quietly, so quietly Ichigo almost didn't hear her, "Did we . . . um . . . you know . . ." she just let the unfinished question hang in the air.

Ichigo turned a bright red at the very thought of doing _that_ with Orihime. He really wished he had finished his coffee to she could do something besides just stare at her with a blank expression.

"I . . . uh . . . I don't know." Ichigo muttered, setting his cup and now mostly melted bundle of ice down, "I can't even remember what we did last night after a couple of drinks into the club, do you?"

Orihime shook her head in response, following Ichigo and putting her items down. Her own headache was nearly gone as well. Part of her was incredibly embarrassed about everything that had happened and everything that might have happened the night before, but another part was a little giddy just thinking about it. Even though they were both drunk he could have gone off with any number of other girls, but he chose her, there had to be a reason behind that besides the obvious. A deep sigh from Ichigo drew her out of her thoughts and back to him.

"Well, we're not going to find any answers in here." Ichigo started heading to the door, "We need to go find everybody and see what they know." His stomach growled, not feeling the sickness of a hangover anymore, and Orihime's followed shortly after, "And I guess we could both use some breakfast."

Orihime nodded and quickly headed over to the door Ichigo had opened to let her out. As she made her way down the luxurious hallway to the elevator Ichigo noticed a small folded piece of paper on a small stand by the door, with his name written on the top. Orihime was already far down the hall as Ichigo picked up the note and opened it.

_Ichigo Kurosaki,_

_Enjoy your time left. Enjoy these hours of your life here in this city. I promise that they'll be the last hours of your life. You took something precious from me, and I'll be taking your life in exchange. _

_Sincerely,_

_Your Grim Reaper_

Ichigo felt a small shiver go down his spine as he pocketed the letter and headed out after Orihime. Just what the hell had he done last night?

**End**

**Okay, short, I know. But the next chapters are going to be good, I promise. I'm pouring all of my creativity into this; I hope you'll all find it good and funny. **


	2. Chpt 2: Uryu's Addiction

Okay people, chapter 2 is out. I know it hasn't been very long but you should all know me by now, I'm like a fanfic machine. Plus there's just so much to work with that I can't stop typing.

I don't own Bleach, Kubo Tite does.

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**IchiHime's Escape from Vegas: Chapter 2**

**Uryu's Addiction**

"_What the heck are you reading Keigo?" Ichigo asked, surprised that Keigo was actually reading a book on the plane ride._

"_I'm teaching myself how to count cards." Keigo answered, not even bothering to look up from his book._

_On the plane, Tatsuki and Chad had taken the seats by Orihime, Tatsuki not wanting Chizuru to have a seat by Orihime. Ichigo was seating in an aisle seat, Renji in the middle, and Rukia by the window; Keigo, Mizuiro, and an annoyed Chizuru were in the middle row by Ichigo, leaving Uryu, Rangiku, and Toshiro in seats behind Ichigo. Uryu had a book in his hand, which Ichigo was expecting. Rangiku, much to everyone's expectations, had helped herself to a healthy dose of airplane alcohol, not knowing about how badly alcohol and high altitudes mix, and was now out cold. Toshiro was quietly sitting in his seat, not doing anything. Rukia had taken to drawing whatever popped into her head, Ichigo didn't want to know anything when it came to her drawings. Renji had joined Rangiku in sleeping, minus the alcohol part. Chad and Tatsuki were listening to music while Orihime kept looking out the window like a young child, amazed that such a heavy machine was flying through the air. Chizuru, as said before, was pouting for not getting a seat by Orihime while Mizuiro fooled around with the phone the airline provided, not being able to use his cell phone on the plane. That left Ichigo, who had been lazily flipping through the magazine until he noticed how Keigo had been intently reading a book, which he now saw the title was '_Make a Fortune in Las Vegas_'._

"_Isn't that illegal?" Ichigo asked in a tone that said of course it was._

"_It's only illegal if you get caught." Keigo answered, still not looking from his book._

"_It thought you said there were things to do in Las Vegas besides gamble." Ichigo's annoyance was going up._

"_Yeah, but how can I go to Vegas and _not_ gamble a little?"_

"_Simple, you just not do it." Ichigo reached over and plucked the book out of Keigo's grasp._

"_Hey, come on Ichigo. I just wanna leave with a little money." Keigo whined._

"_By partaking in such an uncouth activity?" Uryu said, no longer able to mind his own business._

"_Says you Ishida." Keigo snapped at him, "You're smart enough to count cards; I bet you could leave with a ton of money."_

"_Most likely." Uryu replied, not looking up from his book, "But you have to know that if you win too much then the people in charge take notice, and then that means trouble. Besides, gambling is only for fools, and I am no fool."_

"_In other words," Ichigo then ripped Keigo's book in half, luckily it had been paperback, "you're not getting this back."_

-0-

The elevator ride down was as quiet as the room they had just left. Neither Ichigo nor Orihime really knew what to say, or even wanted too. All the evidence that pointed at what had happened last night just made it weird to be around each other, and put a lot of guilt in Ichigo. Orihime was a friend, and he wasn't the type of guy who takes advantage of friends like that; although he did consider her a really pretty friend.

'_Pretty? Where the hell did that come from!_' Ichigo yelled in his head. As he berated himself for that thought his mind also wandered back to that earlier moment. Him on the floor, Orihime on the bed, looking down at him with a curious and worried expression, one he considered very cute on her. '_No, no, crap! Don't think about that, don't think about that!_' he started yelling again, trying to think of something, _anything_, else as he felt his pants start to get tighter.

As Ichigo panicked quietly Orihime was going through a similar experience on her side of the elevator. Despite what she kept telling herself, she couldn't help but think what most likely happened last night, and when she did, she really wanted to remember. Red seemed to permanently stick to her face as she also thought about that moment they had shared, and she was slightly scared Ichigo would notice how hard and fast her heart kept beating in the silent room.

_Bing!_

The elevator stopped 15 floors from the bottom, allowing a couple dressed for the warm weather on. The two held onto each other lovingly, obviously a newlywed couple. But instead of letting the couple stand between them, Orihime instinctively moved aside to let them in and wound up standing by Ichigo. The closeness suddenly occurred to the both of them and they froze still.

"Hello." The man of the couple greeted the two teens, holding out his hand to Ichigo with a smile.

"H-Hi." Ichigo replied nervously, Orihime's proximity getting to him more than anything.

"So what are you folks here for?" the man asked with a chuckle.

"Vacation." Ichigo answered promptly, he didn't know why but the man talking to him was really unnerving.

"Is she normally this quiet." The man's wife asked, looking at Orihime.

"Oh! N-No, I'm sorry." Orihime suddenly broke from her thoughts and started rambling, "I'm not normally quiet, and it's just that I've recently had a lot to think about. And with all the things going through my head it's just . . . " Orihime trailed off, even she didn't know what she was saying anymore.

"We just had a hell of a night." Ichigo explained and finished for her.

"Well that explains it." the woman said, and she and her husband started laughing lightly.

Though they had no idea why, the couple laughter actually calmed Ichigo and Orihime. Suddenly the tension they felt had been in the air was considerably lessened and they felt like they could think just a bit more clearly.

"So did you two sleep together, get married, or was it a combination of both?" the man asked.

Ichigo and Orihime flinched with their entire bodies. Ichigo stood straight and backed against the wall as Orihime turned to the couple with a mortified expression, both turning bright red again.

"He was just joking but it's funny to see how on the money he was." The woman laughed, as Ichigo and Orihime returned to their states from earlier, Ichigo mentally making a note to always buy baggy pants from now on, "There's no need to worry about it though. You know the saying, 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.' And besides, if neither of you can remember then it's like it never happened right?"

_Bing!_

The elevator stopped on the ground floor and the doors opened to reveal a large and luxurious lobby. While the couple walked out Ichigo and Orihime stayed frozen in their poses, still reeling from the interesting elevator ride. As the doors began to close their senses snapped back and they quickly exited. The lobby was busy, as would be expected of an obviously 5-star hotel.

"We should check out what information we were registered under." Ichigo said suddenly, "We might get some information as to what happened last night."

Orihime nodded in agreement, it made sense after all. So they found the main counter and headed over. On the wall above the counter was a symbol with the title "Mandarin Oriental' on it, obviously the name of the hotel. As they walked up the hostess at the counter flashed them a knowing smile, she'd obviously seen them before.

"Mr. Kurosaki, Mrs. Kurosaki, it's nice to see you two ready for check-out." She greeted, making them both stop in their tracks.

"M-M-M-M-M-Mrs. K-K-K-K-K-Kurosaki?" Orihime stuttered out.

"Oh, was I incorrect?" the hostess was a bit worried when she saw their expressions, "When you two checked in last night I just assumed you were a couple, you seemed so sweet and caring with each other. Not to mention all the kissing."

At that moment Ichigo and Orihime would have been perfect examples of impossible physics. They were frozen solid, their brains having pretty much shut down as they processed the last six words the hostess said, and yet they were standing up just fine. But if you tipped either one, even just a little bit, they would have fallen over and crashed into the ground. After a few minutes of just staring at the hostess in disbelief Ichigo managed to get his mind processing on the other things at hand, telling himself that she must have been mistaken.

"Uh, what do we owe you?" he asked, he didn't really want to, as expensive as the hotel looked it must have been astronomical.

"Nothing, after you two checked in a friend of yours stopped by and paid for the night."

"Could you describe this friend, did they leave a name?"

"I'm afraid not. They didn't leave a name and I only remember you two because you tended to draw attention to yourselves. But you've also been given a complimentary breakfast at our adjacent restaurant." The hostess pointed to her right showing the entrance to a restaurant where many other people were sitting down to breakfast.

"Thanks." Ichigo muttered as he left the hostess.

As he took a step towards the restaurant, his stomach now telling him to get something to eat, he noticed that Orihime was still frozen. Ichigo never thought of her as weak willed, in fact he often thought of her as being one of the most emotionally strong people he knew. But the shock of being . . . kissed . . . by him must have been enough to freeze her solid.

'_Great._" Ichigo moaned to himself, '_Not only did I shamefully get an eyeful this morning, but I probably stole her first kiss too. Good going Ichigo, you're such a good friend._' He sarcastically and angrily spewed the last sentence at himself.

With a sigh Ichigo reached over and took Orihime's wrist in his hand, luckily it snapped her out of her daze and he was able to lead her into the restaurant. They were led to a nice table by a window with a view and given menus to look over before the waiter came back for their orders, both putting in an order for coffee before the waiter left.

"S-So." Orihime said quietly, looking out the window, "We . . . k-kissed."

"Stop." Ichigo reached over the table and put a finger on Orihime lips to stop her from going on. Realizing what he'd done he retracted that finger like it was on fire and stuck both his hands to his side, not looking at her, although the thought of how soft her lips were crossed his mind.

'_Of course they're soft._' A voice in his head said, like it knew. And much to his embarrassment he remembered the feeling of her lips on his, a memory of the body instead of a memory of the mind.

"Sorry." Orihime apologized, "It's just . . . that was . . . my first kiss." She said the last three words barely above a whisper.

"Um . . . mine too." Ichigo said, trying to make her feel better.

And it did. When he found the courage to look back at her she gave him a small smile, and he couldn't stop the one on his own face from forming. Somehow, that little confession seemed to make what had happened alright. Ichigo still felt bad about what had happened but Orihime wasn't the type of person to hold a grudge or get angry, and if she wasn't going to be angry with him then the next best thing was to just drop it and forget it, if he ever could.

As the waiter came and got their orders, bringing their coffee too, they started to try and have a conversation. Although neither one could stay on a subject for long, what was there to talk about now? Eventually they both just settled into silence as their food arrived and they dug in, both incredibly hungry. As they came close to the end of the meal Ichigo stuck his hands in his pockets, and an epiphany hit him.

"Inoue, empty your pockets." Ichigo said suddenly, grabbing and dumping everything in his out onto the table.

Orihime gave him a confused look but soon saw the reason as she saw that some of what Ichigo put on the table wasn't was someone would normally carry in their pockets. There might be clues about where their friends were and what had happened in the items in their pockets. So Orihime started digging out her own, adding it all to the small, spread-out pile on the table. Ichigo kept the letter from the room in his possession; things were bad enough without having Orihime worry about him now.

"Wow." Was all Orihime said as they both looked through the assortment of items on the table.

"Yeah." Ichigo agreed, running his hands through the mess and looking for anything that stood out.

Eventually Ichigo's hand settled on a small piece of stiff paper. He picked it up and read the front carefully, and his usual scowl deepened in thought.

"What is it Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime asked, noticing his expression.

"It's an entry ticket for a poker tournament. It started last night and the semi-finals are being held right now."

"Eh? So you entered a poker tournament?"

"Not me," Ichigo looked over the ticket at Orihime, "Uryu."

The two looked at each other in confusion for a little while. Why would Uryu, who was adamant against gambling, partake in a poker tournament? Regardless, it was a lead they were both willing to take. Luckily the name of the casino hosting the tournament. As they started gathering the items back into their pockets, they were surprised to also find a decent sized wad of cash, held by a money clip. After pondering over what to do with it for a few seconds Ichigo pulled out a bill to tip the waiter with and put the rest in his pocket, they were all twenties.

With said money in hand Ichigo and Orihime were able to get a cab and were at the casino in a short amount of time. As they stepped out they could see a large sign announcing the poker tournament. When they stepped inside Ichigo and Orihime were overcome by the excessive noise of slot machines and people cheering loudly as they won. Bright lights flashed everywhere, the most obvious gimmick to get unsuspecting tourists to part with their money in a mostly losing game. While Orihime was dazzled by the bright lights Ichigo was busy looking around for any indication of where the tournament was being held. Eventually his eyes landed on a small floor sign set by a set of doors that looked like they led to a conference room.

Ichigo started heading over to the doors before he noticed that Orihime wasn't following him, entranced by the lights. He let out a frustrated sigh as he walked back to get her, but was caught off guard as she turned to look at all the lights and he saw the expression on her face. It was a mix of childish wonder, excitement, and determination, the usual tourist expression when entering a casino with the intent of leaving with more money than they came with, which all combined made her look adorably cute. And Ichigo couldn't help but smile contently at seeing that face.

After a second of practically gawking at her, Ichigo shook his head fiercely and put on his scowl. He walked over and gripped Orihime's wrist firmly and started pulling her to the doorway for the tournament. Luckily she was still partially entranced by the lights and didn't fully register the contact, although Ichigo sure did after a second. When they finally reached the doors Ichigo let go of Orihime, who snapped out of her daze and started paying attention, and started to open the doors only to be stopped by a very large man in a suite.

"The tournament's currently being held and only contestants are allowed to enter." The said gruffly, his very presence making Orihime nervous.

"Uh, we're friends of someone who's probably in there, but we don't really know if he is." Ichigo explained, also a little offset by the man's size.

"The name?"

"Um, Uryu Ishida."

The guard walked back to another guard who was standing in front of a small podium. After a small exchange between the two the one behind the podium started tapping on it, apparently it was a computer set into the building. After a few seconds of searching he spoke to the first guard, who then went back to Ichigo and Orihime.

"Your friend is currently in the final round of the tournament. You can wait for him in the room reserved for friends and family of participants that also serves as the break room between rounds. This final round with be concluded shortly so there shouldn't be too much of a wait."

And with that the guard led the two to another set of doors a bit away from the tournament entrance. He opened the doors and let the two walk into a relatively large room. It looked a smaller version of the casino outside, minus the slot machines. There were several tables set about the room, with quite a few people sitting at them, a buffet was set against the far wall, and several flat screen TVs were bolted to the walls, no doubt meant to watch each match but now all showed the final round.

After looking at the screen for a bit Ichigo and Orihime saw Uryu at the table. His pile of poker chips was slightly larger than the rest, and the pot was quite large itself. All the players held no expressions on their faces, but after looking Ichigo had no idea why but Uryu's face seemed the most expressionless. It was as if no matter what happened he wouldn't let emotion show. And as the game wore on, Uryu's pile growing ever bigger, that became more and more true; regardless of whatever brilliant hands were played, how large a pot was won, or what kind of loss he sustained, Uryu's face never betrayed anything.

Finally it came to the last hand, with only Uryu and two other players left. While his pile of chips was the largest the other two still had a good sized stack themselves. After the deal of the first hand Uryu only glanced at his cards before he pushed all his chips in.

"All in." he said calmly, practically daring the other two to match.

After a few seconds of being called out the other two players pushed their piles in. Ichigo and Orihime felt the tension in the other room as they watched. When the second deal came around Uryu, to everyone's shock, gave up his hand for a completely new one. After the other two had their new cards dealt, it was revealed on the TV just what they each had. The man on Uryu's left had a straight, starting with ten and ending with an ace. Even better was the man on Uryu's right, who held a straight flush. And most surprising was Uryu's hand, which held nothing at all.

"What the hell is that guy thinking?" Ichigo grumbled, he had never played poker but he knew how it was played, and there was no way in his mind that Uryu could win.

But he kept watching as the seconds ticked by. Although they were focusing on their cards, Ichigo could see each of the other two players's eyes quickly darting to each other and Uryu, although Uryu's own eyes were closed. Eventually both their eyes darted to Uryu at the same type, and, ever so subtly, a tiny grin showed on Uryu's face. A brief expression of shock showed on both his opponents faces, sweat seemed to suddenly spout from their foreheads. After a few more second they both tossed down their hands.

"Fold." They both said.

Finally, a true smile appeared on Uryu's face as he revealed his hand. The crowd went wild and both his opponents visibly started cursing as Uryu's winnings were collected. After a few moments the doors to the next room opened up and a there was a large exchange of people between the rooms. Ichigo and Orihime waited behind and eventually Uryu made his way into the break room. Now out of the tournament room he allowed his façade to fade away. He looked physically and mentally exhausted as well as extremely tired, like he had been up all night. His clothes were still clean but where slightly dingy and, as they would discover up close, had a faint smell of the night before.

"Uryu." Ichigo greeted as the poker player down a bottle of water he had taken from the buffet.

"Kurosaki, Inoue-san." He greeted, his tired expression not lifting.

"Ishida-kun, that was amazing." Orihime started before Ichigo could say anything, "You completely fooled them and won it all. I never knew you were so good at playing cards."

"Yeah, I thought you said it was below you." Ichigo added at the end, then his eyes narrowed, "Wait a second. Where you counting cards?"

"Hmph that is not all there is to the game Kurosaki." Uryu said in an annoyed tone, "There's also the added factor of reading your opponent, keeping your tells in check, and a slight amount of luck."

"Yeah yeah." Ichigo dismissed the explanation, "Anyway, we've been looking for you." And went into an explanation of how neither he nor Orihime could remember the night before, leaving out the morning incident, what they had learned from the hotel hostess, and the letter he had found.

"Well you not remembering doesn't surprise me Kurosaki." Uryu said after listening to the story, "Halfway through our stay in the club you and Renji started a drinking contest; I lost count of who was winning." He then turned to Orihime, "But you not remembering is surprising, you have relatively little to drink."

"Well," Orihime turned slightly red and scratched the back of her head, another pose Ichigo found cute, "I don't really have a good tolerance. I was pretty out of it after the second drink."

"I . . . see." Uryu pushed up his glasses, "Well after you and Renji got into a small fight at the club we all left. Keigo had wandered off while we were in the club and it turned out he had decided to play cards at this casino. You should have let him keep the book Kurosaki; he lost a very large amount of money. And after we found him we managed to pry him away, although he was begging us to help him get his money back. No one else could play so I stepped up and eventually I found myself participating in this tournament." His gaze wandered over to a clock on the wall, "If you two would excuse me, I haven't slept at all since last night and the final tournament begins in three hours." And started walk away.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Ichigo reached out and grabbed his shoulder, "You said you didn't like playing cards on the plane ride over. And we still need to find everybody else too." Suddenly a curious look came over Ichigo's face, "How much have you won anyway?"

Uryu pulled out a piece of paper, "$750 thousand."

Ichigo and Orihime froze, the number was shocking, yet he said it like it wasn't anything important.

"The casino was nice enough to set up a bank account for me." Uryu continued, "All my winnings are deposited directly into the account." Then turned to leave again.

"Hold up." Ichigo stopped him again, "You've got plenty of money, and don't you think you should stop? We still need to find everyone else, who knows what happened to them." Ichigo looked at Uryu hard, "And I think it's best if you stop now, before you go too far."

"What are you implying Kurosaki?"

"On the plane ride over you said you didn't like playing cards, now you can't seem to stop." Ichigo firmly grabbed Uryu's shoulder and started dragging him out, "So we're leaving, and you're not going anywhere near a casino for the rest of the trip."

"Unhand me Kurosaki!"

And so Ichigo and Orihime began the process of pulling Uryu out of the casino. Despite the constant stares as he grabbed onto anything and everything to keep from leaving.

**End**


	3. Singing Chad

Okay people, chapter 3 is out.

I don't own Bleach, Kubo Tite does.

( ) = background singers.

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**IchiHime's Escape from Vegas: Chapter 3**

**Singing Chad**

Ichigo and Orihime waited patiently until Uryu was done to enter is hotel room. Luckily for them the hotel Mizuiro had originally set up for them was nowhere near a casino. It had been hard enough to pull Uryu away from the poker tournament, the last thing they needed was a relapse. Orihime handed him the coffee she had gotten for him out of a vending machine down the hall. He had taken the time to shower and change into a clean set of clothes.

"Thank you Inoue." Uryu said, taking the cup and drinking deeply.

"Are you okay now Ishida-kun?" Orihime asked as he sat on the edge of his bed.

"Yes, thank you for dragging me away from that degenerate game. I don't know what came over me to compel me to act the way I did."

"Yeah, especially since you were the one most against gambling." Ichigo said, not about to let him off the hook for the kicks he'd delivered to the orange haired teen in his frenzy to return to the poker tournament, "We had to drag out like a kid in a candy store. A spoiled kid."

"Once again, I apologize." Uryu said, but his voice betrayed the deep annoyance he was feeling.

"Eh, whatever." Ichigo waved it off, "So what do we do now. You have no idea where anyone else is and we still need to find them."

"How did you find me?"

"We pulled the stuff out of our pockets. I figured we must have gathered some stuff as we drunkenly went through the city we picked stuff up. I found a ticket saying you'd entered the poker tournament so we went there."

"Then I suggest we go through the contents of your pockets again." Uryu finished his coffee, the tiredness in his eyes disappearing, "Put everything on the bed."

Uryu stood up and let the pair empty their pockets onto the bed. Ichigo took another look at all the items, nothing sticking out to him like last time. There were two match boxes from the club they had gone to, although he already knew they'd been there. But as he reached down to scoop them up he noticed something. It looked to be a folded piece of paper, but when he grabbed it and unfolded it, it was a napkin.

"Was this in your pocket Inoue?" Ichigo asked as he looked at the blank tissue.

"Yeah, it was." Orihime answered, looking just as confused as Ichigo at the thing.

"Look on the other side." Uryu said crisply.

Ichigo did and saw only one thing scrawled on the top,

**_Hey babe, call me later._**

**_Justin 555-9043_**

Ichigo read it once, then again, and finally a third time. It took everything he had to keep from ripping up the piece of napkin as a burst of anger shot through him.

"_Who the hell is Justin!_' Ichigo thought furiously, '_Does every guy think they stand a chance with Inoue now? If I ever find this guy I'm going to- . . . . . . Wait, why am I so pissed?_'

"Uh, who's Justin?" Ichigo asked, still trying to figure out his sudden anger.

"I . . . um . . . I don't know." Orihime replied, not sure how to take the fact that a total stranger had not only called her 'Babe' but given her his number.

"Look at the corner." Uryu ordered in a calm voice.

Ichigo did and saw a small monogram. The design was catchy and the name of a bar, along with its address, was listed right below the symbol. Ichigo looked at Justin's message, to Orihime, then at the monogram, and then finally to Uryu.

"Why does this matter?" Ichigo asked, his annoyance showing through, still ticked about the 'Justin' thing.

Uryu sighed then stood and looked Ichigo in the eye, "Having this napkin means you were most likely at the bar sometime last night. Since I was the first person to leave the group then it's also likely that, that is were you went next. Even if the latter is untrue it still means that you went there at some point." He calmly explained.

"Oh." Was all Ichigo could say, Uryu's explanation made perfect sense.

"Then I guess we're going to a bar." Orihime piped up, reaching down to put the items back in her pockets.

"I'll go get a cab." Uryu said, heading out the door.

"And you can pay for it this time." Ichigo called out after him, not forgetting that Uryu had a lot of money now.

He quickly reached down to get his own items. Since Orihime started first she was out the door before him, but paused outside to wait for him. The last thing Ichigo grabbed was the boxes of matches from the club. He was heading to go out the door as he put the boxes in his pocket when he heard a rattling in one. He stopped and shook the rattling box again. His curiosity got the better of him, realizing that the box was also a little too heavy for just holding matches. He opened it up and saw a ring. Ichigo flipped the box over and dropped the ring into his right palm. It wasn't extravagant or expensive looking, just a simple ring. Ichigo stared at it for a second before slipping it onto his right ring finger, he didn't know why he did but it fit perfectly.

"Kurosaki-kun, are you okay?" Orihime's voice came from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ichigo replied, forgetting about the ring, tossing the empty match box in the trash, and heading out the door, "Let's go." He led Orihime down the hall and outside.

True to his word, Uryu had gotten them a taxi. They fit into the back seat and told the driver to take them to the location of the bar. The bar was quite a distance away from all the casino's, lucky for them, and was in another section of the city. As the cab driver stopped he turned back for his pay. Ichigo pushed Orihime out of the back and quickly followed, leaving Uryu to pay. As they stepped out Ichigo and Orihime took a long look at the bar. The front was just a wall with a door, but the name of the bar was painted over the top, and it was a karaoke bar.

"A karaoke bar?" Ichigo asked in surprise, "We go on vacation to another country and we go to a karaoke bar?"

"It's not like we do that every night Kurosaki-kun." Orihime tried to explain, "And I've never heard you sing karaoke."

"Yeah, for a good reason."

"Whatever you reason is will have to wait Kurosaki." Uryu walked up behind them after he finished paying the cab fare, "We need to go in and see if the patrons remember anything."

Wordlessly, they all entered the bar. Because of the time of day it was pretty much empty, having only a bartender stocking and fixing things at the bar and a few waitresses organizing tables and chairs and cleaning up the place. When they first came in none of the patrons took notice but eventually the bartenders eyes landed on them and he smiled widely.

"Well, well, look who it is." He said loudly to catch everyone's attention. The waitresses stopped their organizing and smiled at the three.

"Um, are you talking to me?" Orihime asked.

"Not just you," he pointed at Ichigo, "him too. After his little show tons of people got on stage and sung their hearts out. Lots of drinking too. Business was really booming last night thanks to him." He reached down below the counter and then set a large trophy on it, "You forgot this when you left last night too."

The group walked up to take a good look at the trophy. It was a cheap one, made of two columns from the base holding up a plastic figure that was singing into a microphone. The plate at the bottom had an inscription.

_Ichigo Kurosaki_

_1__st__ Place: Karaoke Contest_

Ichigo visibly turned pale after he read the plate. There was no way, _no way_, he had sung karaoke. But here was the proof before him. He was just thanking his lucky stars he couldn't remember that.

"Wow, first place Kurosaki-kun." Orihime clapped her hands together in congratulations.

"Uh . . . really?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah, that other friend of yours was good but not as good as you." The bartender commented.

"Right!" Ichigo almost yelled, suddenly remembering why they had come, "How many of us were here when we showed up?"

"Your group." The bartender stopped what he was doing to think, "I'm sure, counting you two, there were eight of you in the group. I didn't get a good look at any of you but I know there were eight. I especially remember the big guy."

"So Chad was with us." Ichigo said mostly to himself.

"Yep, like I said, he wasn't as good as you on stage though."

"Huh! Chad sang!" Surprise was not only on Ichigo's face, but Orihime and Uryu's too. Chad was usually quite, what would compel him to get up and sing?

"Yeah, I have a video if you guys wanna see."

As they all gave nods the bartender led them further back into the place. Against the back wall was a large screen, a stage, a set of lights pointed at the stage along with cameras, a pedestal set in front of the stage, and a microphone on the pedestal. The pedestal was the computer used to select songs, and after a little fiddling around with it, the bartender brought up a video file. When it played the stage was empty but there was noise as the bar was busy. Eventually they all saw Ichigo find his way on the stage, still intoxicated from the club, and begin sorting through the music selection.

"What the hell!" Ichigo yelled, "I thought you said you were going to show us Chad; why are you showing me!"

"You were on before the big guy." The bartender answered, "Besides, I wanna see your performance again.

-0-

_The noise of the crowd grew a little quieter as Ichigo got on stage and started making his selection. His expression changed from scowling, to a deeper scowl, to one of surprise, then a small smile and nod as he pushed the button to make his selection. He grabbed the microphone and stepped back to the center of the stage as the computer took a few seconds to upload the selection to the stereo._

"_Uh." He spoke into the microphone, his voice showing he had definitely been drinking, "I'd like to dedicate this song to a special girl out in the audience." He smiled out into the audience and then the music started._

"_We're no strangers to love baby, you know the rules and so do I_

_A full commitments what I'm thinking of, you wouldn't get this from any other guy_

_I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling, gotta make you understand_

_**Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you**_

_**Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie and hurt you**_

_We've known each other~, for so long, your hearts been aching but you're just shy, just say it_

_This time we both know what's been going on, we know the game and we're gonna play it_

_And if you ask me how I'm feeling, don't tell me you're too blind to see_

_**Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you**_

_**Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie and hurt you**_

_**Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you**_

_**Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie and hurt you**_

_Never gonna give, never gonna give (Give you up)_

_Never gonna give, never gonna give (Give you up)_

_We've known each other, for so long, your hearts been aching but you're just shy, just say it, _

_This time we both know what's been going on, we know the game and we're gonna play it, _

_I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling, gotta make you understand_

_**Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you**_

_**Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie and hurt you**_

_**Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you**_

_**Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie and hurt you"**_

_The song faded out quietly and the audience was silent throughout the whole thing. As Ichigo finished they all erupted. Apparently Ichigo had picked a great song, and he was smiling at the admiration. As the clapping continued he smiled and walked toward the edge of the stage, waving his hands at his fans, not noticing that he was too far at the edge._

Whumpph! Crash!

_Ichigo fell face-first off the stage and into a table. The people at the table had quickly gotten away and now concerned cries were coming from the crowd._

"_I'm fine!" Ichigo stood up and held up a hand to show he was okay to everyone, stepping back into the lights of the stage and speaking into the microphone, "I'm good."_

-0-

Ichigo could only stare at the screen with his mouth gaping open. In an opposite response, Orihime started clapping; she had obviously enjoyed the show. Uryu had his head down, although out of the corner of his eye Ichigo could see him smirking and trying to hold back a laugh. The bartender just smiled at Ichigo, as he had said before, he had made quite a profit off of Ichigo's show. He was so shocked he barely registered as Chad stepped on the stage shortly afterward and took the mike himself. After sorting through the songs he stopped at one and stood to sing.

The songs Ichigo had no idea about, he could only make out some stuff about, "Greased lighting", every now and then. Although from the expert way he was singing it, Ichigo guessed Chad must have been a big fan of the song, although it sounded pretty old and outdated to him.

"That's not all though." The bartender said as the video ended with Chad ending his song, "The guy sang a bunch of other songs from Grease. Must be a huge fan or something."

"Do you have any idea where he is right now?" Ichigo asked, snapping out of his shock at his own singing, and disregarding that he had no idea what the bartender was talking about when he said "Grease." Maybe it was an old band or something.

"Yeah, he's right over there." The bartender jerked his thumb back over his shoulder at the booth.

The three looked past the bartender and sure enough, there was Chad, sitting in a booth with his arms crossed. If it weren't for the fact that his hair covered his eyes most people would have known he was asleep, but as it stood it just looked like he was starting straight ahead.

"Guy fell asleep shortly after his songs. The contest went on late so we didn't notice him until we started cleaning a few hours ago, and none of us can move him so we were just gonna wait until he woke up."

"Don't worry, we'll wake him up and take care of him." Uryu said and led the three towards Chad's booth, "I never you had quite a talent for singing Kurosaki." He jabbed as they walked.

"Shut it!" Ichigo yelled, turning slightly red.

"You don't need to be embarrassed Kurosaki-kun. You sung very well." Orihime said quietly, "I'm sure whoever you sung for must have been very touched."

_Eh?_ Ichigo looked over at Orihime. Her eyes were on the ground and she seemed kinda down, her shoulders were slumped over. Ichigo didn't know why but he suddenly felt like the biggest jerk in the world. He was also confused as to why the 'Justin incident', as he now dubbed it, still bothered him. He broke from that train of thought as they reached Chad and heard him snoring slightly.

"Chad, hey Chad." Ichigo reached out and started shaking the giant's shoulder, "Oi, Chad!" he started yelling to get his attention. He kept shaking the giant and yelling for another ten minutes, nothing getting the desired effect.

"Sado-kun." Orihime said quietly, having taken the seat opposite him in the booth.

Chad stirred in his sleep and looked up. He unknowingly shrugged off Ichigo's hand and looked around curiously. Despite his hair they could all tell he had very dark bags under his eyes. Eventually his eyes landed back on Orihime.

"Hello Inoue." He said with his deep voice, "Where am I?"

Ichigo was both amused and annoyed that it only took a quiet word from Orihime to wake up his best friend. He took a seat by Orihime to enter Chad's line of vision and smiled at the man.

"Morning Chad, you fell asleep in a karaoke bar." He broke the news bluntly, "And now I'm betting you'd kill for a cup of coffee, right?" Chad nodded his head slowly, "Then let's go."

Ichigo stood up and led Chad out of the bar. Despite his large size he was wobbling from side to side lightly. Appearently not even Chad was immune to the effects of alcohol. But in all truth, Ichigo just wanted to get out of the bar as fast as he could and put his musical history behind him.

"Hey Ichigo." Chad said as they stepped outside, "You forgot your trophy."

**End**


	4. Chapter 4

This is Chapter 4, out at last, out at last!

I don't own Bleach, Kubo Tite does.

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**IchiHime's Escape from Vegas: Chapter 4**

"So Chad, feeling any better?" Ichigo asked as Chad finished his third cup of coffee.

After leaving the karaoke bar and all bad memories, on Ichigo's part, associated with it they had headed straight for a restaurant in order to get Chad some coffee and food, once again with Uryu paying. The behemoth man managed to put down two platefuls of food and three cups of coffee before he even said a word, disregarding that he never said much usually.

Chad nodded that was indeed feeling better as he set his mug down and the waiter took the empty dishes away from the table.

"Do you remember anything about what happened before we arrived at the karaoke bar?" Orihime asked.

"Not really." Chad answered in his deep voice.

"Well this was a bust." Ichigo sighed in annoyance.

"Not entirely." Uryu said as he pushed up his glasses, "Sado, would you kindly remove the contents of your pockets."

Chad looked at Uryu before he reached in his pockets and pulled out the contents. There wasn't really anything of interest: keys, a cell phone, loose change, a pack of gum, and the cardkey for his hotel room.

"Well you two did loose him rather early." Uryu said seeing Ichigo and Orihime's disappointed looks.

"How does that help us?" Ichigo asked, his annoyance peaking.

Uryu looked deep in thought for a few seconds before he grabbed a piece of paper off another table and pulled a pen out of his pocket. He drew a straight line across the middle of the paper and started making other marks along it.

"Let's think things out for a second." He said then pointed to the first mark at beginning of the line, "This is when we entered the club, and everyone was with us." He then pointed to the other end of the line, "And this is earlier this morning when you two-"he took another moment to think, "Just where were you two this morning?"

Ichigo immediately sat up straight, remembering in all too vivid detail waking up and the subsequent events. Luckily he managed to control the red that threatened to overtake his face and Chad and Uryu were looking at him only. Orihime, on the other hand, couldn't control herself and her blush came back in full force.

"I woke up in some cheap motel." Ichigo answered, "Orihime got stuck in some room down the way from me and when I went out to get some ice for my headache we met."

Chad and Uryu turned to Orihime, who now had her blush under control, and she nodded in confirmation. Satisfied with the answer, Uryu turned back to his paper.

"Well, somewhere between these two time you lost all of us." He lightly traced the line between the two points, "Now I was the first to leave the group, getting caught up in that pointless game." He pointed to the first mark after the one indicating when they had started, "And according to the bartender in the karaoke bar, there were eight of you that entered the bar. Since there were eleven of you after I left that means you lost three people before the bar. I think it would be best to find those three first then see what we can put together and find the rest." He started writing down names and checking them off.

"Well that's a good explanation but where do we start looking?" Ichigo asked, his annoyance returning.

"_My milkshake brings all the boys to yard, and damn right, it's better than yours. Damn right it's better-_"

Everyone looked over as Chad's cell phone started ringing. He reached back in his pocket and pulled it out, flipped it open, and held it to his ear. The only person who could hear anything was Orihime and she couldn't really make out whose voice it was or what they were saying. Chad just made sounds of confirmation as the conversation went on until he was finished and closed the phone. As he slipped it back into his pocket every waited for what the call was about.

"That was Abari-san." Chad said, "We got roomed together at the hotel and he says he needs me to return now. It sounded urgent." And with that, the giant stood up to leave.

The other three were left relatively surprised at the monotone of the giant's voice. Their shock wore off quickly enough for Uryu to toss down enough money to cover the meal along with a tip and run out after him. Luckily the hotel they had all been supposed to stay in wasn't far away and a quick walk led them to the building. A little more and they were on the third floor, where all their rooms were. Despite how badly Ichigo and Orihime wanted to shower and change their clothes they followed Chad and Uryu to Chad's room. As they got closer they could the sounds of an argument inside, and when Chad opened the door it became clear to hear.

"-sn't my fault! You're the one who called him a cheater!" Renji's voice shouted out.

"Well he was!" came a female voice, Rukia's voice.

"That doesn't mean you just go calling the guy a cheater! The house always wins, that's a rule!"

"Says who! If you were just man enough to stand up to them Renji then we wouldn't be in this situation!"

"Pardon us, but are we interrupting something?" Uryu asked as they stepped in to find Rukia and Renji arguing loudly.

The two were glaring at each other right in their faces but turned to their new company at Uryu's question. It became glaringly obvious why they were yelling at each other, they looked like crap. Both had dark circles under their eyes, which were bloodshot, and their clothes had a much worn out look about them. Rukia's hair was messy and at some spots it looked like it sprouted out at all different angles. When he turned to them instead of angry Renji just looked tired, and his hair didn't look any better either.

"You two don't look so good." Orihime stated as they calmed down in the presence of their friends.

"Gee, you think Inoue." Rukia said sarcastically.

"Hey, don't get mad at her." Ichigo snapped at Rukia, "She's right, you two look like crap. You could probably due with a shower and a change of clothes, then some coffee."

"I would love a shower and cup of coffee." Rukia grumbled as she sat down on the bed by the window, Renji yawned and scratched his head.

"Alright then." Ichigo turned to leave, "Rukia can grab a change of clothes and shower in Inoue's room while Renji changes here."

"Sorry, can't." Renji said, stopping Ichigo.

"What do you mean you can't? You were ready to tear each other's head off a second ago and now you don't want to leave each other's side?" Ichigo's annoyance level was reaching its threshold as he turned around to face the two, a vein throbbing on his forehead.

"I didn't say we didn't want to." Renji held up his left hand, which was handcuffed to Rukia's right wrist, "I said we _can't_."

"I can't shower now." Rukia grumbled again, pulling her wrist down and jerking Renji around, "If I try he'll probably try sneaking a peak."

"Tch, like there's anything to peak at." Renji scoffed, earning him a near hit to the stomach from Rukia.

"I'll have you know I have plenty to look at!" she yelled at him indignantly.

"Short, small, and no boobs." Renji pointed at Rukia's chest.

Just as it looked like they were about to go into round two Uryu cleared his throat loudly to get their attention again. He pulled a large handkerchief out of his pocket and started to fold it over and over again. He walked up to Renji and tied the piece of clothe around Renji's eyes.

"If privacy is the matter then there's only so much that can be provided in this situation. But if Abari will swear not to the take the blindfold off then I'll believe we can take him at his word." Uryu said.

"It's not like I was gonna peak in the first place but if this'll make her shut up about it then I'm fine." Renji lifted up the blindfold just enough to that his right eye was looking at everyone, "But then there another problem. How are we supposed to put on shirts when one of our arms is connected to someone else? Or in my case a midget."

This time the hit connected since Renji didn't really see it coming.

"I have to agree with Renji." Rukia said, dismissing Renji's pained look, "How do we work around that little problem?"

"Well it's for just such occasion as this that I bring my traveling kit." Uryu reached into his pocket again and pulled out a small sewing kit, "We'll simply cut down the side of whatever shirt you two pick and after you're dressed I'll sew it back up."

"Wow Ishida-kun, you're always so prepared." Orihime gushed while Ichigo, Rukia, and Renji just started unbelievingly at the guy.

"Did you actually plan for this situation?" Ichigo asked incredulously

"Not this situation specifically but I always think it's best to be prepared." Uryu said, looking back to Rukia and Renji to see if they agree.

"Just so long as I can take a shower." Rukia said, grudgingly agreeing to it, "Grab some clothes and let's go idiot." She shot back at Renji, "I need to get some of my own clothes."

"You two make sure they don't kill each other." Ichigo said, pointing at Chad and Uryu as Renji gathered a set of clothes to change into, "Inoue and I will go get some coffee for them." He started to massage his temple, "And I could use some more myself, how about you?"

Uryu and Chad nodded and a minute later they all left the room, except for Chad who was going to shower and change quickly himself. Ichigo and Orihime wound up heading to a small stand a little ways from the hotel for the coffee. They ordered eight altogether, two apart for Rukia and Renji. As they waited for their orders to be filled Orihime and Ichigo sat on a bench and watched the almost noontime sky.

"You didn't have to get angry and Kuchiki-san back there." Orihime said suddenly, making Ichigo look from the blue sky down to her, "She was dirty and tired, it was pretty stupid of me to just point out the obvious like that." Her voice carried a tone of sadness.

"Even if that was the case, she had no right to snap at you like that Inoue." Ichigo reassured her, putting a kind hand on her shoulder, "I wasn't going to let her talk to you like that."

Orihime looked at Ichigo and smiled her thanks. After a moment he removed his hand and they went back to looking at the sky.

"Kurosaki-kun, are just being nice because we-" Orihime just let her question go unfinished.

"First of all you don't know if we did or didn't do . . . that." Ichigo was hesitant to bring up that can of worms, "And no, I'm not being nice because of that. Rukia may be a friend but you are too and I didn't like how she snapped at you."

In all truth, Ichigo didn't understand himself why he did what he did. But when Rukia had snapped at Orihime he had suddenly been overtaken by an urge to yell back at Rukia and stand between her and Orihime.

They let silence hang in the air between them again, but it was far from awkward. It was actually rather nice at the moment. The sun was pretty high and there barely any humidity, so it was a pleasant heat that hit them. Despite the part of town they were in it was far from overly noisy. And Ichigo had to admit that having Orihime around was calming in and of itself, there was just something about her presence, that he'd noticed lately, that made him more calm than he usually was.

Ichigo looked down at his right hand, more specifically, at the ring he had found earlier. He actually didn't notice it until it caught his eye. It fit perfectly and felt like he had worn it before, and it tugged at his curiosity. Just how had he gotten it and what was it for? Hopefully he'd eventually learn as they kept searching but there was a nagging feeling in the back of his head as he looked at it, like it was something special and important that he was supposed to know.

"Order up!" came the voice of the stand owner as he slid out the two tray holding the coffee Ichigo and Orihime had ordered.

They stood up and took their orders, Ichigo paying the stand owner with a bill from his clip, still curious as to how it came into his possession. The walk back to the hotel was quiet but still not uncomfortable, pleasant even. But in the time it had taken them to retrieve their orders a good amount of people had flooded the sidewalks and it was rather hard to move without bumping into someone. Eventually Ichigo had, had to take both trays in his hands to that Orihime could weave her way through the crowd. Even with her hands free it didn't help much, and eventually Orihime was roughly shoved into Ichigo. The drinks didn't spill thanks to Ichigo's good sense of balance and the tops on the cups, but the drinks were quickly forgotten as they realized their close proximity. Orihime turned bright red and moved to take a step back but Ichigo managed to wrap one of his arms around hers and held her close, noting that people tended to walk around him instead of push by him. So they made their way back to the hotel, and separated as soon as they were inside the cool building. In truth it wasn't Orihime's closeness that had bothered Ichigo; it was the frantic pace his heart had started beating at her touch.

This time the silence was awkward as they made their way to Rukia's room. She had opted to be paired with Rangiku, none of the girls wanting share a room with Chizuru. Chad looked cleaner and more refreshed in his change of clothes and was waiting with Uryu as they knocked and was let in. They could hear the shower going in the bathroom but didn't question anything, setting the coffee down on the table and taking the seats there since Chad and Uryu had taken seats on the beds.

Finally the shower shut off and after a few more minutes Renji and Rukia exited the bathroom, slightly damp and still tired looking but looking better than before. The bottom of the right arm of Rukia's dress and the entire side down was cut, and a quick glare from her made Ichigo and Chad look away as Uryu started on her first. Renji had the same done to his T-shirt but didn't look as worried about it. After a few minutes Uryu was down and the two grabbed their coffee like hungry beasts and started drinking.

"So what happened?" Ichigo asked after Rukia and Renji finished their first cups and started on their seconds, "Orihime and I can't remember anything and Chad passed out at the bar we went to last night. And I'd really like to know how you two wound up handcuffed together."

Rukia lowered her cup as Renji kept drinking and grimaced.

"Well, I guess it happened right after Ishida decided to go off gambling and that friend of yours headed off to meet with his girlfriend." Renji explained.

"The one you called a womanizer." Rukia clarified at Ichigo's confused look.

"Mizuiro got a girlfriend?" Ichigo asked in surprise, "When the hell did that happen?"

"Not sure, I was pretty gone by the time we hit the casino." Renji continued, "Anyway, you decided to keep that other friend of yours from losing anymore money but the rest of us pulled out our extra cash and decided to go a few rounds in the casino. And Ishida wasn't the only one on a hot-streak." He smiled as he thought back to his luck, "I was cleaning up at the craps table but _someone_," he nodded his head over at Rukia, "came over and when I was about to be given the dice she called the dealer a cheater and started making a scene."

"I _did not_ make a scene." Rukia defended herself.

"You grabbed the stick, stood up on the table, and started swinging at everyone who tried to get you down, _including me_." Renji finished his coffee, crushed the cup, and tossed it in a trash bin, "I'm lucky I managed to grab some of my chips before security hauled us off."

"That still doesn't explain the handcuffs." Ichigo said, watching them both.

"You tell them the rest." Renji said to Rukia as he took a seat on the bed, scratching his head.

"Fine." Rukia hugged but continued, "Well since it was such a big commotion and I ended up accidentally breaking a few things as they threw us out, we were handed over to the police. And they did this." She held up their cuffed hands, "And while they were 'booking' us they sat us on a bench. And neither of us have really had this happen before so we were kind of nervous." She took a seat by Renji, "After a minute we realized no one was watching us so we just . . . slipped out of the building. Unfortunately we couldn't get the key for these things and we've been trying to find a way to get them off ever since."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Ichigo stood up and pointed at the two accusingly, "Are you saying we're currently aiding two escaped criminals!"

"Pretty much." Renji said, looking at Ichigo with his eyelids half closed, "Why are you making such a big deal out of it anyway? It's nothing but a bunch of trumped up charges. As soon as we get everyone together and get these things off we can leave."

"Wow, so you two are like Bonnie and Clyde." Orihime said with an air of excitement and amazement.

"Please don't tell me you're excited about this Inoue." Ichigo said.

"I just think it's really cool Kurosaki-kun."

"Well if you don't want to help us we understand." Rukia said, although the tone of her voice was making Ichigo a little nervous, "But from what you told us you have no way to find anyone else, and we know exactly where that Mizuiro friend of yours went." She and Renji started smirking knowingly.

"Wh-what do you want us to do?" Ichigo asked hesitantly.

"Well nothing right now, but you're not going to just abandon us either." Rukia said, knowing Ichigo would really like to put distance between himself and the two wanted criminals he called friends, "Now let's go." She and Renji stood up to take them to Mizuiro.

"But Kuchiki-san, won't you and Abari-kun get caught walking down the street with a pair of handcuffs on?" Orihime asked.

"Oh, don't worry about that." Rukia said and wrapped both of her arms around Renji's left, holding him close, "If we walk like this no one notices."

"You know Kuchiki-san," Orihime said as everyone left to find Mizuiro, "when you and Abari-kun walk like that you make a really nice looking couple."

**End**


	5. Chapter 5

This is Chapter 5. Sorry it took so long to get out everybody. School, and life, and writers block are like the triad of story killers. But I broke through them all and am now prepared to bring you something new.

I don't own Bleach, Kubo Tite does.

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**IchiHime's Escape from Vegas: Chapter 5**

Self restraint was something Ichigo prided himself on, being able to keep from breaking any of his father's bones when the man attacked him first thing in the morning was great practice for restraint. But restraint from laughing was a lot harder. It took everything the teenage boy had to keep from busting out laughing as he, Chad, Uryu, Orihime, Rukia, and Renji walked down the side walk, Rukia holding onto Renji like a girl holding onto her boyfriend. And that was what had Ichigo nearly splitting his sides. Renji was so tall he made the already short woman look even shorter, almost like he was with a girl many years younger than him. Not to mention Orihime's comment earlier

A small sound escaped from Ichigo, and despite all the odds, it reached the ears of said 'couple' and they immediately stopped and turned around to face him.

"Is there something funny Kurosaki?" Renji asked in a strained polite tone.

"No, nothing." Ichigo replied, keeping his voice straight.

"Good, then let's keep going." Renji turned around to keep walking.

"My, my, if that's what he's like, just imagine the children." Uryu commented quietly.

Then, it was like the flood gates had opened. Ichigo couldn't hold back his laughter anymore, and even Orihime and Uryu joined in. Chad remained as quiet as ever, although he was smiling rather largely. Renji and Rukia, on the other hand, were blushing furiously and turned around to angrily glare at the group.

"Just what the hell about this is funny? You think we want to do this?" Rukia nearly yelled at them.

"Maybe you do." Ichigo teased.

"Why the hell would I want to be handcuffed to Rukia?" Renji said indignantly, "If I had to choose of all the women I knew, Rukia wouldn't make the top twenty."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Rukia turned to anger to Renji, "I'll have you know plenty of men think I'm very attractive."

"Yeah, there's a word for those kinds of men." Renji muttered, earning him a punch to the gut, "Gah!"

"You wanna say something else?"

"Midget."

"I AM NOT A MIDGET!"

"Excuse me, is something wrong here?" came a male voice from behind them.

"Mind your own business!" Renji and Rukia snapped at the man.

Everyone immediately froze upon seeing the man; in front of them stood a police officer. Rukia was quick to clasp onto Renji's arm again, trying desperately to hide the handcuffs on their wrists. Ichigo and the rest had stopped their laughing was debating whether to run away or see if they could bluff their way out of any trouble.

"S-Sorry sir." Renji quickly apologized, "We're just having an argument with our friends here." He jerked his thumb back at everyone behind him.

"Well this is a public place, I need you two to quiet it down or I'll have to classify this as a public disturbance." The officer was about to turn around then he gave Rukia and Renji a strange look.

"Is there something wrong officer?" Rukia asked, putting on her sweetest fake voice and flashing him an innocent smile.

"I don't know, you two seem familiar, in a bad kind of way." The officer narrowed his eyes as he searched his brain for a memory of the two.

Ichigo and his group took a cautious step back, preparing to make a run for it. They knew that if Rukia and Renji were getting caught, they might be taken in as accomplices, and the last thing Ichigo needed to add to his day was getting arrested. The action didn't go unnoticed by the 'couple' as they continued to smile at the suspicious officer and they turned around to glare at their 'friends'.

_Ch-chink_

Everyone froze as the officer looked at the source of the sound, the handcuffs completely visible between Renji and Rukia. The officer's eyes widened at the sight, and then everything clicked in his head.

"You two!" he pointed at Renji and Rukia.

"RUN!" Renji yelled, stepping forward to knock the officer down then turned and ran in the opposite direction.

Ichigo, Orihime, Uryu, and Chad didn't even need him to tell them. Before the word had even left Renji's mouth they had turned and started running. Lucky for them, Chad had been at the back of the group and was also a good runner. He was tall enough that people saw him coming and were quick to make way for the barreling giant, followed closely by the others. They heard the officer shouting behind them but didn't comprehend the words or even stop to consider them, they just kept running. At the intersection a block away they ran into a red light and ended up turning right to keep going, effectively losing the cop for a short amount of time as the building hid them from sight. Halfway down the new street, Renji felt the handcuffs pulling at him and realized that Rukia was falling behind. Without saying a word he hoisted her up and held her bridal style as he kept running. They heard the officer behind them again, and saw that another police car was screeching to halt at the end of the block in front of them.

The group looked around and saw the traffic to their left was stopped, and quickly darted between the cars to the other side. The second they were on the other street the cop car started to follow them but the traffic started and it couldn't get through, the officer that had been chasing them was stopped as well, buying them a precious few minutes as they took random turns to loose the cops. After the third turn Ichigo turned to check on Rukia and Renji and saw that Orihime was falling behind slowly. He reached out and grabbed her, pulling her forward to his side but kept a firm yet gently hold on her as they kept running.

Eventually they all ran out of breathe and wound up bent over, trying to catch it. They spent a few seconds breathing deeply until they saw a cop car turning down the street a block away and heading for them. Everyone's eyes opened wide as they watched it approach, and then two more turned onto the street too.

"There." Chad said, and started pushing everyone into the casino they had stopped to catch their breathe in front of.

They quickly rushed in, but when they stopped to look behind them they saw the cars stop and six officers followed them.

"Split up." Uryu ordered, "Try to lose them in the crowd and try to meet up on the roof."

Everyone nodded and proceeded to split up. Renji and Rukia headed off in one direction themselves, Chad headed straight for the rows and rows of slot machines, Uryu followed Chad for a little while then split away and headed somewhere else, and Ichigo headed off in a random direction, not remembering that he had a grip on Orihime.

He quickly but calmly navigated his way through the crowd until he was in the back of the casino. A woman was on a stage, singing some old song he had no idea about, there was a bar with several tables set around with cocktail waitresses tending to patrons. Older slot machines were set up and older people were playing them, continuously putting in coins and pulling the handles, occasionally getting a happy jingle as they won a small amount. Ichigo headed for a dark spot in the back of the bar area, set between two large fake plants against a wall and leaned against it, catching the rest of his breathe and trying to think things through.

"K-K-Kurosaki-kun." He heard Orihime.

Ichigo turned to her, remembering he had grabbed her to help her keep up and hadn't let go. He was confused to see she was blushing until he looked down and realized he had taken a hold of her hand, and was still holding on. He quickly let go and began kneading the back of his neck, a blush creeping onto his own face.

"S-Sorry." He apologized. He just couldn't seem to stop inappropriately doing things with her today.

"It's fine." She leaned up against the wall like him, "So what do we do now?"

"Well, we need to get up to the roof without being seen by any cops." Ichigo looked around, "And that's gonna be hard since we're not near any stairs or an elevator; which means we'll have to have to look for one and risk getting caught."

They were quiet as they thought through what Ichigo said and finished getting their breath back.

"Wait." Orihime said as Ichigo was about to start heading into the casino area to look for stairs or an elevator, "Why don't you stay here and let me go find something. This way you'll be safe."

"No way." Ichigo said, fixing her with a stern but gentle look, "I'm not letting you go risking this by yourself."

"But-"

"No buts." He gave her the same look, only sterner, "We'll find a way to the roof together." He reached out and took her hand again then led her to the casino area.

Orihime couldn't stop the blush that lit her face as he pulled her along. And Ichigo didn't look back; unable to hide the one on his face as he carefully navigated his way through the rows of gamblers. They narrowly avoided getting caught twice, but were lucky enough to see the cop before they saw them and head in a different direction. They stayed as close to the walls as they could, hoping to find something quickly, and they were lucky enough to spot an elevator by a set of stairs in a corner back in the back.

"C'mon, c'mon." Ichigo grumbled as he rapidly pressed the button to bring the elevator down.

"Kurosaki-kun." Orihime said, a hint of urgency in her voice.

Ichigo looked at her then in the direction she was looking. A cop was looking around and hadn't spotted them yet but was heading straight for them. Ichigo quickly turned away and pushed Orihime towards the stairs. Orihime quickly went up the first two but her didn't put enough of her foot on the third, causing her to fall back when she lifted her other foot to step up. Ichigo was still at the bottom and reacted quickly enough to catch her, but hadn't shifted to prepare for the change of weight. He caught Orihime but ended up being dragged with her into the corner by the stairs and within view of the elevator. Orihime landed with her back in the corner and Ichigo was quick enough to put up his arms and stop himself from crashing into her, but now he was shoved up next to her, his face just centimeters from hers.

They froze still as they heard a set of shoes hitting on the tile of the floor they were on. They knew it was the cop, checking to see if they had run up the stairs. Ichigo and Orihime didn't pull apart, knowing that this was their best camouflage to hide from the cop. They heard him step up a few of the stairs, probably looking up the stairwell to see if they were going up. After a few seconds he headed back down, and then stopped. Ichigo and Orihime held their breathes as they were sure he had spotted them, and then his footsteps started again.

"Tch, teenagers." They heard the cop mutter as he headed back into the casino.

Both Ichigo and Orihime let out the breathes they had been holding, and were suddenly once again aware of their closeness. Orihime felt Ichigo's breathe across her face, and turned a bright red as it became the only thought in her mind. The same was happening to Ichigo as he felt Orihime's breathe around his neck, and then he started to smell something, like flowers. The scent invaded his nose and started to cloud all his other senses, until the only thing he could focus on was the pair of beautiful grey orbs behind long lashes in front of him. And it might have been his imagination but they seemed to be getting bigger.

'_No._' Ichigo was able to think through the fog, '_I'm getting closer._'

He was getting slowly closer, his eyelids drooping as he fell more and more blissfully into the fog.

_BING!_

The sound of the elevator reached the ground floor, opening, and the sound of the crowd inside it was enough to snap Ichigo out of the fog, but not soon enough for him to stop his lips from gently brushing up against Orihime's. He roughly pushed himself away from her, cursing at himself in a harsh and hateful tone as his back slammed against the wall a few feet away from her. Luckily for them the crowd in the elevator had been busy talking with each other to notice the near kiss in front of them as they exited the box. Ichigo rushed in when it was empty and Orihime followed. Several other people who saw the open elevator got in before Ichigo punched the button for the top floor, pushing the buttons for their floors as well. Although it felt cold to be away from her, Ichigo was rather glad there was a group between him and Orihime.

Orihime, on the other hand, felt so far apart from him, even though it was only a few feet. She'd been completely lost in his eyes with him so close, but had been totally aware as she and he had slowly leaned forward, and that moment when she felt his lips gently rub against hers . . . She reached up and touched her lips, remembering the feeling with every bit of sensation her mind could conjure up. But she'd be lying if she said she wasn't confused, it seemed like Ichigo had wanted to kiss her in that moment. Didn't he want to? And now he wasn't even looking at her.

Neither of them said anything, even as the last of the group exited and they were alone for the last ten floors to the top floor. As soon as the doors opened, Ichigo was out and heading towards the end of the hall. It was a pretty straightforward design, the elevator was at the end with the door to the roof at the other end, far down the hall, and doors to rooms were on both sides. Ichigo was walking quickly towards the door but at a pace he knew Orihime could keep up with, he'd just tried to kiss her, he didn't want to make her feel like he was trying to get rid of her too.

"Kurosaki-kun." Orihime said quietly, although it might as well have been said through loud speakers in Ichigo's ears. He stopped walking and looked back at her, though only just barely out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, Inoue?" he asked cautiously.

"Wh-Why did you pull away?"

"EH!" Ichigo turned to face her completely, his guilty face replaced by one of shock. That was a hell of question, and an unexpected one at that.

"It's just . . ." Orihime's hands were held together behind her back and her head was hung forward, although held high enough that Ichigo could see her watching him with those beautiful grey eyes of her, "It seemed like you really wanted to just now. But then you pulled away."

"I . . . I . . ." Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck again, mentally yelling out every curse word he knew, "It's just." He sighed, "Everything is a big mess right now, we don't even know what happened to us last night." He looked at her, and his heart feel seeing the sad expression on her face, "I don't want to make things worse, I don't want to lose a friend like you."

"Right." Orihime said quietly, so quietly Ichigo almost didn't hear it, "Because we're just friends."

Ichigo repressed the growl that wanted to escape from his throat; hearing that from her, made him feel like shit, and those words made his stomach twist in a really uncomfortable way, "Just friends." He didn't like that phrase for some reason. He didn't know what the hell was going on, he wanted to give Orihime some room away from him, considering everything that had happened, but he was just drawn to her. He didn't want to leave her alone, and even worse, he was gripped by an incredibly strong urge to walk up and kiss her, and along with that urge came the strange feeling of weight from the ring on his hand. Like there was something he was forgetting that the ring was trying to remind him of.

"It's about time you got here, we're starving."

Ichigo and Orihime were broken out of their inner thoughts as the door to Ichigo's right and Orihime's left was opened up and a familiar face stood there. The face went from annoyance to shock to happiness at seeing them.

"Ichigo, Inoue, what are you two doing here?"

"What are _we_ doing here?" Ichigo asked incredulously, "What are _you_ doing here Mizuiro?"

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**End**

**Okay everyone, sorry the chapter is late. I hope you enjoyed it. And be prepared for a surprise next chapter, I don't know if I should classify it as a big surprise, but I think it's hilarious.**


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